In some map rendering systems selection of map elements or particular elements along a street, path, or trail is not possible or is restricted to the geographical information system (GIS) database spatial queries. The GIS database spatial queries may be too slow for effective interactive map rendering applications.
The rendering of maps using raster based tiles, in some map rendering systems, limits selections and visualization of elements to overlays, which are limited in how they may change underlying map element. In the case of three dimensional maps the use of overlays in this manner is not possible.